Conrad Brunner
This all starts with my friend, Conrad Brunner, who I worked with at PokerStars, back in the early aughts. I will leave the initial description of Conrad to Victoria Coren-Mitchell, a grand dame of British journalism and TV. Vicky and Conrad played in home poker games together back in the day, and she remembered him when she wrote her poker memoir, For Richer, For Poorer:
But Conrad always says thank you. Conrad is awfully polite, very pukka. I think he might be related to an earl. He is easy-going and smiley, possessed of a genuinely optimistic temperament. God knows what he’s doing playing poker. Must have taken a wrong turn one day. He runs a charity tournament every Christmas, to raise money for a cancer hospital. He’s the nicest guy that ever comes here.
I mentioned him to a mutual colleague, who said, “What I remember about Conrad is that he always wore a sport coat.”
Which was true, even when everybody else was in hoodies and trainers.
I follow almost nobody on Facebook, but I continued to follow Conrad because, well, because Conrad was a breath of fresh air.
Then, when the war in Ukraine broke out Putin invaded Ukraine, Conrad Brunner and his family took a Ukrainian woman and her son into their home. Ms. Coren-Mitchell’s keen poker eye was also a fine judge of character.
One thing led to another, and then Conrad fell in with an organization called Pick-ups for Peace, made up of Scottish farmers. Mostly ex-military. Now, if you ever wanted to Get Shit Done, starting with a bunch of ex-military Scottish farmers sounds perfect.
“PU4P” purchases used pick-ups – mostly 4×4’s. They fill them up with medical supplies, generators, etc., and then they drive them to Ukraine. They hand the entire package, pick-up and all, over to the Ukrainian military. So far, they’ve delivered 338 pick-ups, all packed with life-saving supplies. They reckon that every pick-up saves ten lives.
In March of 2024, Conrad’s wife, Cecily, and a co-driver, Katie, collected donations, purchased and outfitted a 4×4, and drove it to Lviv, Ukraine. You can read about their trip here.
In April, Conrad himself, and his co-driver, James, raised money to purchase a pick-up, loaded it up, and drove it to Ukraine.
More than money
Over the past decade or so, I’ve come to the conclusion that the way I best help change the world is send money to places where it can make a difference. I’ve been absurdly fortunate financially, and I can give far more than most. And I seem to be pretty good at making more money. So rather than canvass during elections or work on phone banks, I spend time trying to make more money, then send it to the most effective organizations.
But I’m an old man now, and I’m feeling the need to get my hands dirtier. To put my boots on the ground. As I watched Conrad, and Cecily and all those ex-military Scottish farmers, I thought…
“I want to drive a 4×4 to Ukraine.”
It seemed like the most obvious thing in the world. I’m retired – I don’t owe my time to The Man. I don’t think it’s particularly dangerous, but…
I was out for a hike with my friend, Jennifer, whom I’ve known for over 20 years. I told her about Pick-ups For Peace, and my plan to drive one of these 4×4’s to Ukraine.
She paused. “Is it safe?”
“I mean, probably…”
Jennifer stopped me. “That’s not really the point, is it?”
No, that’s not really the point. Life makes no promises. The county in which we live, Alameda, in the San Francisco Bay Area, has a per capita freeway gun violence rate five times higher than Los Angeles County (per this report). Three days ago, a woman driving to her shift as an emergency services dispatcher for Alameda County was struck and killed by a drunk driver, less than a mile from our house.
I have a great life and would like to continue it for a good while longer. But if it’s going to be cut short, far better it be while driving a pick-up to Ukraine than driving home from the poker club.
The details
Are still TBD. I’m likely to be going in August of 2024. I’m in touch with Pick-ups for Peace and they’re going to tell me the schedule. When I have more information, I’ll make a post about it.
To be clear, I’m not (yet) asking for donations. I’m still struggling with whether I want to ask for donations or not. Part of me wants to just write the check myself – to synthesize the check-writing guy and boots-on-the-ground guy.
But maybe if I collect donations, that will further engage people in this mission and process. Maybe somebody will, like me, start out writing a check, but end up driving a truck. That’s way more important than me being content because I paid for the truck myself.
If you have thoughts about this, drop me a note.
Seeking co-driver
I do have one request right now. I need a co-driver. It’s a 19-hour drive from Calais, France. So we pick up the pick-up somewhere in southern England, get it across the Channel, and drive 19 hours, with one or two overnights. Then, with coordination and assistance from PU4P, we make our way back to Krakow, Poland, and fly to wherever.
The person needs to be fit, a good driver, able to drive a right-hand drive stick-shift. And be ready to handle whatever the trip throws at us. I presume that 95% of the time, everything goes smoothly. But the 5% of time that things go sideways, we need to right the ship. Because when we get in that pick-up, it is damn well getting to its drop-off point. On time.
If you know the person who’s supposed to be my co-driver, please get in touch.